The very first line of dialogue in a film can set the scene, introduce characters, and grip the audience. Indeed, these opening words help establish the entire tone of the production and the direction the movie is about to take.
Click through the following gallery for some of cinema's best opening lines, and be reminded of those who spoke them.
"As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster."
– Henry Hill (Ray Liotta)
"Do you find me sadistic? You know, I bet I could fry an egg on your head right now, if I wanted to."
– David Carradine (Bill)
"Please, sir, can I have some more?"
– Oliver (Mark Lester)
"It all began on New Year's Day, in my 32nd year of being single. Once again, I found myself on my own—and going to my mother's annual turkey curry buffet."
– Bridget Jones (Renée Zellweger)
"I don't want to be a product of my environment. I want my environment to be a product of me."
– Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson)
"Now I want you to remember that no b****** ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb b****** die for his country."
– Patton (George C. Scott)
"I remember those cheers. They still ring in my ears."
– Jake La Motta (Robert De Niro)
"People trust me with their secrets. But who do I trust with mine? You, only you."
– Barbara Covett (Judi Dench)
"Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow airport."
– David (Hugh Grant)
"On September 3, 1973, 6:28pm and 32 seconds, a blue fly of the Calliphorides species, whose wings can flutter 14,670 times per minute landed in Saint-Vincent Street, Montmartre."
– Amélie Poulain (Audrey Tautou)
"Are you watching closely?"
– Alfred Borden (Christian Bale)
"That was refreshing. I'm refreshed. I'm refreshing."
– Dave Spritz (Nicolas Cage)
"Saigon. S**t! I'm still only in Saigon. Every time I think I'm gonna wake up back in the jungle..."
– Willard (Martin Sheen)
"My name is Dalton Russell. Pay strict attention to what I say because I choose my words carefully and I never repeat myself."
– Dalton Russell (Clive Owen)
"Only ever met one man I wouldn't wanna fight."
– Scrap (Morgan Freeman)
"Rosebud."
– Charles Foster Kane (Orson Welles)
"I had the craziest dream last night. I was dancing the White Swan."
– Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman)
"After I killed him, I dropped the gun in the Thames, washed the residue off me hands in the bathroom of a Burger King, and walked home to await instructions."
– Ray (Colin Farrell)
"She shivers in the wind like the last leaf on a dying tree."
– The Salesman (Josh Hartnett)
"My name is Lester Burnham. This is my neighborhood; this is my street; this is my life. I am 42 years old. In less than a year I will be dead. Of course I don't know that yet and, in a way, I am dead already."
– Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey)
"Three billion human lives ended on August 29th, 1997. The survivors of the nuclear fire called the war Judgment Day."
– Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton)
"Hello. My name's Forrest, Forrest Gump. You want a chocolate?"
– Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks)
"Last night, I dreamt I went to Manderley again."
– Mrs. De Winter (Joan Fontaine)
"I want to tell you about the time I almost died."
– Azazel (Denzel Washington)
"I am Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, your senior drill instructor. From now on you will speak only when spoken to, and the first and last words out of your filthy sewers will be 'Sir!' Do you maggots understand that?"
– Gunnery Sergeant Hartman (R. Lee Ermey)
"What came first, the music or the misery?"
– Rob Gordon (John Cusack)
"Chapter One. He adored New York City. He idolized it all out of proportion. Eh uh, no, make that he, he romanticized it all out of proportion. Better."
– Isaac David (Woody Allen)
"I'm 36 years old, I love my family, I love baseball, and I'm about to become a farmer. But until I heard the voice, I'd never done a crazy thing in my whole life."
– Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner)
"The key to faking out the parents is the clammy hands. It's a good non-specific symptom; I’m a big believer in it."
– Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick)
"If I could just go back... if I could rub everything out... starting with myself."
– Tom Ripley (Matt Damon)
"When you love someone, you've gotta trust them. There's no other way. You've got to give them the key to everything that's yours. Otherwise, what's the point?"
– Ace Rothstein (Robert De Niro)
"Today is a good day to die."
– Nelson Wright (Kiefer Sutherland)
"I will tell you of William Wallace. Historians from England will say I am a liar. But, history is written by those who have hung heroes."
– William Wallace (Mel Gibson)
See also: Movie stars who directed themselves all the way to the Oscars
Memorable opening movie lines
Words that get films rolling
MOVIES Opening lines
The very first line of dialogue in a film can set the scene, introduce characters, and grip the audience. Indeed, these opening words help establish the entire tone of the production and the direction the movie is about to take.
Click through the following gallery for some of cinema's best opening lines, and be reminded of those who spoke them.